Jac Friedenberg, His Piano and Orchestra - What A Wonderful World

The overlap in players on these jazz tapes is getting pretty interesting. We've got a 7" from Jac Friedenberg kicking around that also features Southport Jazz singer Hazel Proctor. But that's neither here nor there - what we should be focusing on is this instrumental tape from the local pianist, which drips in lush string arrangements. It's definitely towards the easy listening spectrum of jazz - which kind of suits us just fine this morning.

Friedenberg hints at the extent of his musical career in the article above; we're pretty sure this 78 from the 50's is also him, which would make his a recording career spanning almost 50 years. Sadly, Friedenberg passed away in 2005.

Enjoy his orchestral majesty here.

Southport Jazz - Anything Goes with...

We're going to switch gears a little bit here, and bring you a tape from Cannery Row house band Southport Jazz. We're still in the realm of jazz, but it's certainly a lighter end of the spectrum. But, hey, this quartet was the house band at a restaurant and pub, so maybe we shouldn't be super critical - plus, this band seems like they were beloved by Cannery Row's regulars:

Get it here!

Cheryl Fisher - Slow Hand Jazz (1994)

Staying in the same jazz vein as our last two posts is this promo only tape from singer Cheryl Fisher. Which, according to the details on the CD over at discogs, features a bunch of the same players as yesterday's Vivianne Cardinal tape. While it's another in the same swinging style, to our untrained ears, this tape sounds a bit smoother than Cardinal's, but that also might just be the effect of the non-stop ringing we hear.

For the download on this one, we're going to point you over to Fisher's website, where she's made the mp3s available for free.

Roger Helfrick - The Call (1994)

We think this is the last of the Celtic tapes in the stack we got from Doug Wong... although we may have missed a few. And even though Roger Helfrick is an Edmonton artist, this was recorded at Richard Harrow's Living Room studio's with the help of a bunch of Calgarians we've heard from during this trip into the land of 90's Celtic recordings. Helfrick is known for his harp playing these days, but it looks he sticks to the guitar on this first recording of his.

 

And you can get it here.

Eillen McGann - Journeys (1995)

Well, thankfully today's tape from Eillen McGann has (a) a year and (b) some quality Celtic music. McGann has made a career of music for over thirty years, and we hesitated with this tape, not knowing if we should include it as a Calgary release or not... but we think she was based in Calgary at the time of its release. While it was recorded in Toronto, there are enough ties to Calgary (including art by Ohama!) that we're calling it ours.

We're also impressed by how prescient McGann was with the track "Too Stupid For Democracy" off this tape:

It looks like this is still in print, at least in CD form - so we're going to encourage you to get it from McGann's website if you're interested.

Kindred Spirits - Celtic Rock

Now, we suspect this is one of the bands that First Draft's John Campbell was complaining about in yesterday's post. We're not sure if the title of Kindred Spirit's tape is Celtic Rock or if that's just there for slick marketing purposes, but... we like to think of it as a warning label. Kind of like when you see that Bob's Good Times Band is playing down at the local pub. If you want to go out for good times, maybe that'll be okay. If you're looking for truly good rock and roll (or in this case, Celtic tunes) - maybe not sure a good idea?

Get the download and let us know what you think!

First Draft - First Draft, Gael

Today's pair of Celtic tapes pair well with yesterday's Scatter the Mud release not just because of the Celtic content - but because of the excellent flute and pipe work of Cam Keating, who was a core of both bands. There's no year on either of these tapes from First Draft, but we're pretty sure they were released somewhere around 1990, pre-dating Scatter the Mud. 

As with Scatter the Mud, they're both excellent samples of our city's Celtic music output. Although post-First Draft, it seems like John Campbell was shying away from the Celtic tag as it blew up and bands tried to cash in on the fad (see our previous comment re/ Spirit of the West covers):

Get some First Draft here!

Scatter The Mud - A Modicum Of Mud

Carrying on with our dig into Calgary's 90's Celtic bands, there's no way of avoiding Scatter the Mud. The tape that was in the cache of stuff we got from Doug Wong didn't have a j-card, but we found this on - of all places - Amazon.com. There's no year on it, so we're going to go waaaay out on a limb and guess is was released before their first CD, the superbly-titled In The Müd. That CD was so well-received that BMG picked it up for a second pressing and distribution - which led to this amazingly 90's PR stunt:

Get muddy here!

Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann (Calgary) - The Mountain Road (1995)

Well, we're about to dive headfirst into a slew of Celtic music. We're not sure what was in the water in the mid-90's, but it seems like there were a lot of Celtic bands - some good, some just playing drunken covers of Spirit of the West's "Home For A Rest." This tape thankfully falls into the former category. 

Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann is a society for traditional Irish music and dance, and this tape is from the local chapter with a group of musicians tag-teaming across the tape's tunes.

It's sure to have you reeling around the mountain roads.

Kilgore Trout - One Voice Starts (1994)

It's been years since we had a tape from Kilgore Trout; if you've been waiting with ants in your pants, today's your day! The best part is, we've got a lot better about providing more context on these posts since we featured their first tape. So we're able to share this clipping, which casually points out how the Vonnegut character they take their name from is kind of at odds with their upbeat and relatively light songs... 

To hear the Trout, press here!

Wild Colonial Boys - Live in '88 (1988), After Hours (1995)

We're doubling up the tapes today (we have to - otherwise we'll NEVER get through all these tapes from the Doug Wong archives!) to give you a double dose of the Calgary Folk Club's house band, the Wild Colonial Boys. The first is a live album - which we kind of wish we'd heard first; we get now why they were such a draw. It's a fun recording of a band that's there to entertain - they play well, don't take themselves too seriously, and are incredibly engaging. The second tape today, which is apparently their fifth release, highlights a band with over 15 years under their belts - it claims to be a collection of their most-requested songs. It's perhaps not fair to pair it with the live album - while the sound is superior, we quite prefer the looseness energy of their live recording.

Compare them for yourself here.

Barry Luft and Tim Rogers - Songs Of The Iron Trail (1983)

We're going to head into folk territory for a while, starting with this tape from Barry Luft and Tim Rogers, celebrating Canada's railway traditions. We think that it wasn't released in 1983 - that's when the LP came out, and since the label on the tape says that it was manufactured by Canada Cassette, we think this was more like a 1989 release. But we're going to stick with the year the LP came out, since there's no date on the tape. 

Ride the rails here!

Jacqueline Dolan - A Collection (1994)

Since we're never ones to shy away from posts which are somewhat redundant, here's a compilation tape from singer and harpist Jacqueline Dolan. It brings together songs from her two tapes on Doug Wong Music - and also recycles the cover art from both releases. 

But we've still got a fresh download for you, right over here.

Tim Williams - Alive And Picking (1990)

Shifting out of the AOR releases, let's go with this one from local blues legend Tim Williams (who we saw last year on 7" single). This tape is much more in the blues vein that we've come to expect from Williams, although listening to the very excellent "It's Enough To Be Remembered," we certainly hear some of the country influences from his early recordings.

We don't think this is available elsewhere, so the download is right here.